Sunday, September 27, 2009

VIDEO: FLEETWOOD MAC "GOLD DUST WOMAN" Live in San Diego

One of the best songs in the set this tour is Gold Dust Woman!
You need to experience it live to completely appreciate it.

Captured in San Diego, CA May 31, 2009

HOME BILLETS ORGANISED FOR FLEETWOOD MAC NEW PLYMOUTH FANS

No room at inn for Fleetwood fans

The accommodation crush is being felt all over Taranaki as momentum grows for the Fleetwood Mac concerts in New Plymouth.

Home-billets are being organised as hotels and motels put up full-house signs for the December 19 and 20 gigs at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands.

The Taranaki Daily News has heard anecdotal evidence of people vacating their homes to stay with friends while letting their houses for more than $300 a night.

And the prices are being willingly paid by well-heeled baby boomers who aren't keen on roughing it in the campsite at Pukekura Raceway, where room for 3000 campers has been made available through the council's i-Site Visitor Information Centre.

The Bowl gigs are Fleetwood Mac's final of a world tour and the only New Zealand appearances. The Saturday show on December 19 is a sell-out and the few remaining tickets for the Sunday show are selling fast, New Plymouth District Council events manager Garry Sharpe-Young said yesterday.

These attending the Sunday show are sure to be in for a party atmosphere from the band.

"It's their very final show on the world tour, so they are sure to be letting their hair down and partying after the Sunday concert," he said.

For Wellington fans, a train will travel through to New Plymouth and return to the capital after the Saturday concert. The same is on offer for Cliff Richard and the Shadows on February 27.

Meanwhile, the online scalpers are alive and well. Trade Me last night had 26 sets of tickets advertised for sale, offered by people from all over the country, with tickets up for grabs in all three price ranges.

General admission is $120, silver $250 and A-reserve sells at $320 through Ticketmaster.

The most expensive tickets on Trade Me to date appear to be a $1095 deal for two A-reserve gold tickets including return train travel to and from Wellington.

STEVIE NICKS INTERVIEW - MELBOURNE SUNDAY HERALD MAGAZINE

Melbourne Herald Sunday Magazine Interview with Stevie Nicks from September 20, 2009.

A HUGE thank you to jovonfoool for providing the scan!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

UPDATED ON FLEETWOOD MAC'S GREATEST HITS SALES

Fleetwood Mac's 1988 Greatest Hits collection is still riding the Catalog Top 200 Sales Charts in the US:

Billboard Issue 9/19/09:

This Week: #53
Sales: 2,417
Accumulated Soundscan Sales (tracked since 1991): 4,271,984

Last Week: #53
Sales: 2,473





FLEETWOOD MAC TOUR STATS UPDATE (SEPT '09)

Three Tour Dates added to the
Unleashed Tour Stats
For North America:
(in yellow)

Baltimore 6/10/09
New York City 6/11/09
Manchester, NH 6/16/09


Sunday, September 13, 2009

Rock 'n Roll Survivors

FLEETWOOD MAC - 60 MINUTES AUSTRALIA
(BROADCAST SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH)

Rock 'n Roll Survivors
Rock 'n Roll Survivors
(MSN VIDEO)
Reporter: Michael Usher
Producer: Sandra Cleary

Celebrity interviews aren't as easy as they look. You get used to spoilt stars who panic at the first sign of a personal question.

So meeting super-group Fleetwood Mac was a joy and a real revelation for Michael Usher.

There they were, some of the all-time greats, just itching to let it all hang out. What a story, a saga of passion, tangled love affairs, bitter hatred, acrimonious bust-ups and tearful reunions.

And in case you were wondering, there was plenty of the usual sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, too.

Four decades of absolute mayhem and the miracle is they're still around, still making terrific music together.

Full transcript:
STORY -

MICHAEL USHER: Far from the world's rock arenas and stadiums, the beat goes on for Mick Fleetwood, here, in his tropical hideaway in the Hawaiian paradise of Maui.

MICK FLEETWOOD: It's like a perfect hippie paradise. So, there you go, a mini Woodstock.

MICHAEL USHER: At 62, the legendary drummer and founder of Fleetwood Mac has got the band back together - Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John McVie on the road again and halfway through a sell-out world tour.

MICK FLEETWOOD: I've always been the believer that we'd always keep going but, you know, over the last 16 years or so, I have to admit I'd go, I like, I wonder whether we can ever get this bunch out of Dodge again.

MICHAEL USHER: This bunch is one of the biggest-selling, most popular bands of all time. But, while they created unforgettable pop classics over four decades, behind the scenes, they lived the greatest rock'n'roll soap opera ever told - love triangles, broken marriages, tears, tantrums and drug addictions.

MICHAEL USHER: How do you describe that time now, looking back on it?

STEVIE NICKS: I would have been dead. It would have killed me. In another year, it would have killed me.

MICHAEL USHER: Centre-stage of the drama was the ethereal leading lady of the band, Stevie Nicks, the ultimate rock survivor at 61.

STEVIE NICKS: From the moment the lights go up and you walk out, as far as loving to sing, I love to sing more than anything. I think once you're in a band, and you like playing, and you like each other, and you like your music, what else do we do? It's who we are and it's what we do.

MICHAEL USHER: It's the music that held them together through the turmoil, and what's brought them together again for this tour.

MICHAEL USHER: That's beautiful. Do you still like playing it?

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: Oh, yeah, I love it, yeah.

MICHAEL USHER: For 59-year-old Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie's ex-lover, and the creative force behind the band, it's putting aside the bad times to celebrate all that was good.

MICHAEL USHER: Is it good getting back together again?

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: Oh, undoubtedly. I'm having the best time of my life out there. We are a band who is known to get together and then go away for a long time and come back together, and maybe that's how we've managed to stay together all this time, because our history has not been an easy one, personally.

MICK FLEETWOOD: I always joke with Lindsey and go, "It's the worst-run rock'n'roll franchise in the business!" We're all incredibly close friends that have been unbelievably dysfunctional at certain points and also been incredibly in love.

MICHAEL USHER: It was thanks to love that Stevie Nicks, a struggling singer-songwriter, even ended up in Fleetwood Mac. In 1975, her boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham, was asked to join the existing band members, Mick Fleetwood and another couple, John and Christine McVie. He refused unless Stevie came too. One day, she was working as a waitress. Within months, she was touring with a hit album.

STEVIE NICKS: We were on the road in June and when we came back in September, October, Lindsey and I, together, had a million dollars.

MICHAEL USHER: A million dollars? 10 months earlier you were waiting tables?

STEVIE NICKS: Waitress, cleaning lady.

MICHAEL USHER: You literally had money all over the place?

STEVIE NICKS: We had hundred dollar bills everywhere. It was funny in a lot of ways because we'd been so poor that we were so stunned, you know, and, all of a sudden, you could really have anything you wanted. It was really something. I mean, it really was the dream come true overnight.

MICHAEL USHER: Their success was sudden and phenomenal. Their 1977 album 'Rumours' was one of the highest-selling releases of all time. But as the band hit a professional high, behind the scenes, their private lives were unravelling. John and Christine McVie's marriage was failing, and Stevie and Lindsey were about to split up.

STEVIE NICKS: We kept it together and then, you know, towards the end of the recording of 'Rumours', all the relationships really blew up.

MICHAEL USHER: All of them?

STEVIE NICKS: All of them, and nobody was going to leave, so, even if we were breaking up, we weren't, any of us, going to break up the band, and we were all writing great songs because we all had great sorrow to write about.

MICHAEL USHER: Inspiration.

STEVIE NICKS: Oh, yeah. So straight from the studios, straight to the piano in tears and to write a great song, you know, carry it back, play it for the band, and everybody would cry and everybody knew what it was about. But, on the other side of that, everybody is like, "Yes, one more great song!"

MICHAEL USHER: They were recording music, but barely speaking with each other. What they had to say, they said in song. It was Lindsey Buckingham who wrote 'Go Your Own Way', an anthem for the band's turmoil.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: All of that fuelled the music and, to some degree, it really was part of the appeal of 'Rumours', you know, the musical soap opera aspect of it. It kind of brought out the voyeur in everyone.

MICHAEL USHER: There was more to come in the Fleetwood Mac saga. Fresh from her break-up with Lindsey, Stevie began an affair with Mick. To make matters worse, along with the sex and rock and roll, they'd embraced a culture of constant drug use. How deep and how heavy were your indulgences?

MICK FLEETWOOD: As deep as they could get. I mean, the only blessing was I never, never took anything, quote, in the opiate area ever, thank God. Booze and cocaine. More booze, more cocaine, and that was me for a long time.

STEVIE NICKS: For us it was basically brandy, cigarettes, pot and coke, and that was just a wicked little circle - "rat's wheel" I call it, that everybody was on, you know. You'd do some coke and you were nervous, and then you'd smoke some pot and then you'd calm down. You were too stoned and then you'd do some more coke to wake up and then you'd have a drink 'cause you were too nervous and that it was just, you know, it was just a nightmare.

MICHAEL USHER: A nightmare that lasted 10 years before Stevie finally checked into America's most famous rehab clinic.

STEVIE NICKS: In 1985, I went to Betty Ford, which is the army - Betty's army. This is not 'Celebrity Rehab'. There's nothing fun about it. It's not a spa.

MICHAEL USHER: What was the wake-up call for you? When did you realise "This is too much?"

STEVIE NICKS: I had a very dangerous little hole in my nose, and it could've really threatened my voice.

MICHAEL USHER: The fallout continued. Lindsey Buckingham quit, not returning for 10 years, and Christine McVie walked away forever. But, for Mick Fleetwood, the spirit of his band never died, and the journey is far from over.

MICK FLEETWOOD: It really is fascinating. It should be a film, it should be a play or something of that nature. So much fire and passion and misguided emotions, you know - fascinating.

MICHAEL USHER: And, so, the soap opera goes on. They're back together, heading to Australia later this year. Stevie and her ex-lovers on stage, playing all their classics. An incredible musical legacy of those turbulent times.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: It's still a great band, you know? What can you say? I mean, under the worst of circumstances, it's still an extraordinary group of people whose chemistry transcends the individuals, and that's what we were, and still are, you know?

MICHAEL USHER: Stevie, what's your relationship with Lindsey?

STEVIE NICKS: Well, he's not my best friend and never will be because we were those kind of lovers and, when we broke up, it was awful, it was nasty and bad. We can never really be good friends. We care about each other very much but we don't hang out.

MICHAEL USHER: What's your relationship today with Mick?

STEVIE NICKS: We're best friends. We're still going to be watching movies and hanging out in Maui when we're 90.

MICHAEL USHER: She described you as her "best friend forever".

MICK FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it's a good thing.

MICHAEL USHER: That's a nice place to be in.

MICK FLEETWOOD: Yes, Stevie is a whole person and, for some years, she drifted away, you know, much like myself, and we came back. It's good.

MICHAEL USHER: You cherish that friendship obviously.

MICK FLEETWOOD: Very much so. She's a soul mate.

MICHAEL USHER: Stevie counts herself lucky to have survived it all and still be performing. She believes it was the music that saved her, and it will always be her first love. Is there room in your life right now for love or is it hard to be Mr Stevie Nicks?

STEVIE NICKS: It's hard. It's hard. It's very hard to be Mr Stevie Nicks and, so, right now, you know, I have - my relationship really is with my work, and I have a dog, a great dog, so, it's what I wanted. My life is what I wanted and the best thing is that I'm not going to die a drug addict and I am going to die someday a very happy artist who did everything that she wanted.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

MICK FLEETWOOD (FLEETWOOD MAC) TALKING BALLS

Mick Fleetwood
Talking balls, blues and getting beamed up with the legendary drummer

by Anuhea Yagi

Oh my God! You are well informed," laughs Mick Fleetwood when I ask about his wooden balls.

Really? I figured it was a standard topic. Fleetwood is, after all, seen displaying the precariously hung pair on the cover of the 10th best-selling album of all time: Fleetwood Mac's 1977 release, Rumours. In the black-and-white photo, the legendary drummer assumes a Captain Morgan-like stance—toilet chain balls proudly dangling from his belt, a dewy Stevie Nicks draped over his leg.

A few minutes into our conversation, I grasp Fleetwood's style: effortless, humble, carefully informative and surprisingly unpretentious. He's gracious with his rolling anecdotes and seems to enjoy telling them with humorous tonal inflections. Take, for example, the history of his wooden balls.

"The original, original ones I do not have—but the ones that I have are very, very old. I won't say they're as old as me. But—it starts getting into X-rated commentary here—my balls are quite old."

Fleetwood confirms that the original pair were "lavatory chains." Though we're conversing over the phone, I imagine him pantomiming the vandalism as he narrates: "I came out—and I must admit I had a couple of glasses of English ale—and came out of the toilet with these, I ripped them off the—you know, I was very destructive—I ripped them off the toilet and had them hanging down between my legs."

As for what happened to those originals—the "juju" good luck charm he never performs (specifically) Fleetwood Mac shows without? "I lost them at a gig," he says. "Eventually somewhere they got ripped off." After that, he visited a carpenter to get a replacement set.

"In truth, I started off as a blues player. The whole ethic of a lot of blues music is slightly suggestive, might I say. And suitably, I walked out on stage with these two lavatory chains with these wooden balls hanging down, and after that it just stuck.

"Now that we've talked about my balls, let's talk about the evening we're going to be having."

Full Article on Mauitimes.com

MICK FLEETWOOD BAND (FLEETWOOD MAC) ROYAL LAHAINA RESORT

THE MICK FLEETWOOD BAND
Don't miss this special opportunity to see The Mick Fleetwood Band Oceanfront at the Royal Lahaina Reosrt.

Home to Maui on a brief hiatus from his world wide Fleetwood Mac Tour, We are thrilled to host Mick and friends as they rock the night away! For more information and tickets call 808-661-3611. Concert benefits the "Save the Arts" Foundation; working towards getting arts and music education back in Maui County Public Schools.

Special Room packages also available.

Friday, September 11, 2009

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC WITH MICHAEL USHER OF 60 MINUTES AUSTRALIA

Fleetwood Mac featured on 60 Minutes Australia
Sunday, September 13th. Channel 9

Celebrity interviews aren't as easy as they look. You get used to spoilt stars who panic at the first sign of a personal question.

So meeting super-group Fleetwood Mac was a joy and a real revelation for Michael Usher.

There they were, some of the all-time greats, just itching to let it all hang out. What a story, a saga of passion, tangled love affairs, bitter hatred, acrimonious bust-ups and tearful reunions.

And in case you were wondering, there was plenty of the usual sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, too.

Four decades of absolute mayhem and the miracle is they're still around, still making terrific music together.











FLEETWOOD MAC 60 MINUTES AUSTRALIA

Michael Usher talks about interviewing the
members of Fleetwood Mac

[airing Sunday September 13, 2013 in Australia]

60 Minutes Australia
September 11, 2009

A nice plate of sandwiches, a smooth glass of red wine and endless offers of fresh bottled water.

Sounds like a pleasant brunch, a casual weekend get together, but certainly not the hospitality I'd expected from three musicians whose sex drugs and Rock'n'Roll lifestyle in the 1970's made them legends.

I'm talking about Fleetwood Mac. Earlier this week, I returned from Los Angles and Hawaii where I caught up with Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham.

Now to understand the band's history and music, you first have to get your head around these three members of the band. Their lives have been a rollercoaster. Stevie and Lindsay were lovers and broke up, and ever since have had a love-hate relationship. Stevie and Mick had a lengthy affair - that started in Australia by the way - and today call each other soul-mates. Stevie and Mick also happened to have spent most of the late 70's and 80's hooked not only on each other but drugs, especially cocaine. "Booze, cocaine, dope, booze, cocaine, dope," Mick told me when he was describing that time of his life.

These days, their lives are very different. They're clean, loving their music again and, after 34 years, liking each other enough to tour again.

In fact, for all their personal turmoil over the past few decades, they've always come together for the music. They may not have been speaking with each other at times, but what they had to say they said in song. And luckily for us, that meant great classics that made Fleetwood Mac one of the biggest-selling, most popular bands of all time.

Lindsey Buckingham was our first interview at his beautiful home in L.A. He has his own recording studio beneath his garage so we set up there for the interview. Lindsay's about to turn 60 next month but married for the first time 10 years ago and has three young children. A few of them popped their head in on the interview after getting home form school. You can tell Lindsey is loving being a dad, as much as he loves playing his music. He rightly has been hailed as the creative force behind Fleetwood Mac, especially the 'Tusk' and 'Tango in the Night' albums.

After the interview, Lindsey was good enough to pull out one of his many guitars and play us two songs, 'Never Going Back Again' and 'Big Love". He plays beautifully and, as many of his fans know, has enjoyed a successful solo career away from Fleetwood Mac. And here's some trivia – you remember that movie "National Lampoon's Vacation" with Chevy Chase? Well Lindsey wrote and performed the film's catchy theme song "Holiday Road".

Our next interview was a little way down the road in an equally nice area of L.A., at Stevie Nicks' home. And what a host she was, an open kitchen, fresh sandwiches, anything you wanted. Lucky there were supplies, because this lady loves to talk, and so do I. Our main interview ran almost one hour overtime and nothing was off limits.

Her 10-year cocaine binge, her love life with Lindsey and Mick, the music, her solo career – the lot – we talked about it all. Stevie likes to be open and candid because she hopes her life might be a lesson to some of the Hollywood starlets making a mess of their private lives at the moment. This woman has been through it all, survived, is still singing and loving life. And Stevie can't wait to tour Australia.

Next stop was the Hawaiian island of Maui that Mick Fleetwood has called home for a few years now. He has a magnificent lodge half way up a mountainside with sweeping views of the surf below. And here he can go hell for leather on the drums and there isn't a neighbour within hearing range who can complain. And Mick did just that for us. He hit the kit -belting away with all the power and emotion that helped him form this legendary band way back in the 60's.

Fleetwood Mac has reinvented itself a few times over, but Mick has always been there steering it through, finding new members and convincing the old ones to come back. And, in between gigs with Mac, he has a blues band that tours the world.

Mick like Lindsey loved and lost Stevie Nicks, and late in life also married and started again with a new family and young children.

Like Stevie, Mick was incredibly gracious with his time. We spent hours with him as he told Fleetwood Mac's turbulent tale and explained the often tortured inspiration behind the band's music. These days, Mick doesn't touch drugs but he does have a vineyard in California, so to help lubricate the interview he had a bottle of his favourite Pinot Noir within arm's reach.

It was a great experience talking with these music legends. The drummer, the guitarist and their Queen of Rock'n'Roll. They've got a story to tell and don't mind telling it. They were refreshingly honest, and generous. And without a single new song to plug, they're just enjoying being back together, touring the world, and performing the songs that made them superstars.

FLEETWOOD MAC DOUBLE CD VERY BEST OF RELEASED IN UK

Uncut.co.uk

Fleetwood Mac's anticipated remastered Very Best Of double album has finally got a UK release date of October 19 for the CD and digital versions.

The 36-track album, will be released just prior to the Mac's UK leg of The Unleashed Tour which starts at Glasgow SECC on October 22.

In their career, Fleetwood Mac have sold over 100 million albums worldwide -- famous tracks include: "The Chain", "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams" and "Landslide".

The band's current line-up is Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Lindsey Buckingham.

Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of track listing is:

Disc One:
1. Monday Morning
2. Dreams
3. You Make Loving Fun
4.Go Your Own Way
5. Rhiannon
6. Say You Love Me
7. I'm So Afraid (Live, 1997)
8. Silver Springs
9. Over My Head
10. Never Going Back Again
11. Sara
12. Love In Stone
13. Tusk
14. Landslide
15. Songbird
16. Big Love (Live, 1997)
17. Storms

Disc Two:
1. The Chain
2. Don't Stop
3. What Makes You Think You're The One
4. Gypsy
5. Second Hand News
6. Little Lies
7. Think About Me
8. Go Insane (Live, 1997)
9. Gold Dust Woman
10. Hold Me
11. Seven Wonders
12. World Turning
13. Everywhere
14. Sisters of the Moon
15. Family Man
16. As Long As You Follow
17. No Questions Asked
18. Skies The Limit
19. Paper Doll

This was originally released in the UK in 2002 as a single disc version:

1. Go Your Own Way
2. Don’t Stop
3. Dreams
4. Little Lies
5. Everywhere
6. Albatross
7. You Make Loving Fun
8. Rhiannon
9. Black Magic Woman
10. Tusk
11. Say You Love Me
12. Man Of The World
13. Seven Wonders
14. Family Man
15. Sara
16. Monday Morning
17. Gypsy
18. Over My Head
19. Landslide
20. The Chain
21. Big Love (Live From Dance)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

36,000 PREDICTED AT FLEETWOOD MAC NEW PLYMOUTH SHOWS

Beds scarce during Fleetwood Mac weekend
Stuff.co.nz

Accommodation for Fleetwood Mac's December 20 concert is almost sold out in New Plymouth, with out-of-towners being referred to Stratford and Hawera for beds.

But those keen on the outdoors will be able to camp a mere two-minute walk from the TSB Bowl of Brooklands where the concert is being held.

The New Plymouth District Council and Taranaki Arts Festival Trust have opened Pukekura Raceway up for camping. The racecourse has room for 3000 people.

Taft chief executive Suzanne Porter says the campsite will be set up the same as it is for Womad.

"If you have come to the Womad campsite, you will know what it's about," she says.

"We have good showers and toilets it's not grungy."

Camping vouchers are available from Ticketmaster today.

For Friday and Saturday nights, the cost is $40 per person and for Sunday night, it's $20 per person.

Many wanting a campsite at the racecourse have already registered at New Plymouth i-SITE Visitor Information Centre for their tickets.

The Saturday, December 19, Fleetwood Mac concert sold out within 10 minutes on Wednesday.

A second concert the next night was announced shortly afterwards, with tickets selling rapidly.

It is likely about 36,000 people will pass through the TSB Bowl of Brooklands gates in a 24-hour period.

Taranaki Motel Association president Deborah Tawa says most New Plymouth motels are fully booked for the Sunday show.



Second show as Fleetwood Mac sells out
Taranaki Daily News

Fleetwood Mac fever hit overdrive yesterday as tickets for the international group's New Plymouth concert on December 19 sold out within minutes.

Promoters immediately announced a second concert for December 20, which means 36,000 people will likely pass through the TSB Bowl of Brooklands gates in a 24-hour period.

Thousands of tickets for the second Sunday show sold within half an hour.

New Plymouth District Council manager of business developments and events Garry Sharpe-Young said organisers anticipated tickets would sell fast.

"The promoter was trying to get hold of all the band managers to see about a second show and it was all very last minute and just in the nick of time," Mr Sharpe-Young said.

"The tickets for the second show are going very well and fast. It's just fantastic for Taranaki and it's great for the venue."

Taranaki Motel Association president Deborah Tawa says there is no motel accommodation for December 19 left in the region.

"We have been frantic," Mrs Tawa said yesterday.

"Accommodation for the first concert is well and truly gone, we filled up in five days two weeks ago."

There are still rooms available for the Sunday concert on December 20 but they are running out rapidly.